Saudi mulls hiking blood money

Saudi Arabia is considering a proposal to sharply increase diya, the bloody money paid under Islamic law by a killer to the victim’s relatives in return for pardon, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Saturday.

The Supreme Court has suggested the increase to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia following a study conducted by a judicial committee, taking into consideration the drastic social and economic changes in the country, Okaz daily said.

Under the new system, diya for accidental killing will be tripled from SR100,000 to SR300,000 while bloody money for premeditated murder will be nearly quadrupled from SR110,000 to SR400,00, the paper said.

“The new diya system will be enforced only after it is ratified by the Monarch,” the paper said, quoting a senior source at the Supreme Court. It will be the first diya amendment in nearly 30 years and it follows a sharp rise in Saudi Arabia’s oil production and income, steady growth in its population, a massive influx of expatriates and high inflation over the past few years.

Okaz said a panel of Islamic scholar completed a study on the sum set for diya after consultation with officials, economists and intellects. “The panel had also visited many camel markets in the Kingdom and met experts for advice….it decided that there was a need for this increase in light of the massive developments witnessed by the Kingdom in the past decades,” it said.

According to the Arabic language paper, Islam has originally set diya at 100 camels or an equivalent sum of money. A killer could be saved from the gallows and freed if diya is paid and the victim’s relatives pardon the murderer.
 

Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab economy and the world’s dominant oil power. Its population stood at around 27 million at the end of the first half of 2010, including nearly 20 million Saudis. The country has over 800,000 camels.

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